The Duchess of Cornwall holds 2 week old Eddie Cross and his mother Victoria from Porthcawl during a Royal visit to the Emmaus charity shop in Porthcawl

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With Kate Middleton’s due date just around the corner, the step-grandmother Duchess of Cornwall got some impromptu practice with holding a baby in Porthcawl today.

As our exclusive pictures show, the royal overjoyed the crowds during her visit to the South Wales town when during her public walkabout she cuddled up to a two-week-old baby boy.

The Duchess was visiting the coastal town to see the work of homeless charity, as part of her annual summer visit to Wales when she stopped to hold Eddy Cross from Rockfields.

After meeting Camilla, Eddy’s mother, Victoria Cross, 31, said she was shocked when the Duchess asked to hold her son.

She said: “I was overwhelmed to meet her and even more so when she held Eddy. He’s so young and it was lovely to see. I happened to be near by and noticed that The Duchess was here and stood watching when she came over. I couldn’t believe it.”

Camilla was visiting the Emmaus charity shop on New Road to see how it helps formerly homeless and socially excluded people, through doing things a little differently.

The charity, of which the Duchess is a patron, provides those in need with not only a stable home but work in a social enterprise, usually a shop which renovates and resells furniture and other household goods.

The money generated by the shops will be used to set up an Emmaus community, giving 22 formerly homeless people a new place to live as well as work.

The two of these shops in South Wales are in Bridgend and Porthcawl, with the third, an Emmaus superstore, due to open in Bridgend in July. With an estimated total of 400 homeless people in the Bridgend Borough, the concept is warmly welcomed by the community.

Having seen one of the oldest of these communities in France on a visit to Paris earlier this year, Camilla used her trip to find out how preparations are going for the first ever Emmaus community in Wales.

Until the community opens, the shops are being run by a combination of staff and volunteers. The Duchess, who has been Royal Patron of Emmaus since 2006 and made sure she met and spoke to volunteers and staff, eagerly awaiting her arrival inside.

The shop’s manager, Martin Williams was equally as inspired by the royal visit.

He said: “It was absolutely brilliant to see the Duchess of Cornwall visit our shop. We hope for the first Emmaus community in Wales and we are really pleased that she is so committed to the cause.”